Plan launched to accelerate growth of green finance

The Informer
Posted on: 26/09/2017

The UK Government is launching a Green Finance Taskforce bringing together leaders from the financial sector to accelerate green investment.

Members of the taskforce will include Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange, Edward Northam, Head of Investment Banking at the Green Investment Group, and Rhian-Mari Thomas, Managing Director of Barclays.

Public sector members of the taskforce include Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, Ben Caldecott, Founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and Paul Fisher, Senior Associate at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

The British Standards Institute is also developing the first green financial management benchmarks.

‘Multi-billion-pound opportunity’

Claire Perry, Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry said: “Britain has already shown the world that a strong economy and efforts to tackle climate change can, and should, go hand in hand.

“The transition to a low carbon economy is a multi-billion-pound investment opportunity and a key part of this Government’s Industrial Strategy.

“Developing standards to promote responsible investment in sustainable projects and establishing the Green Finance Taskforce will help ensure businesses across the UK take full advantage of it.”